Arviat (Nov 29/06) - Arviat Youth Piliriqatigiit held its third annual snowman competition in the hamlet earlier this month.

To be eligible for a prize in the unique competition, a snowman had to be built by two or more family members.

Martha Anoee and Nangmalik Qanatsiaq took top spot in this year's contest, with Louisa, Martha, Jeannie and Josephine Pingushat finishing second and Gail, Meg and Dawn Kuksuk taking third.

Contest co-ordinator Kukik Baker says the youth group came up with the idea as a way to help encourage family interaction and co-operation through the quest of a common goal.

The contest has grown every year, with 24 families building frosty creations this month.

"Members of our youth group noticed we had families in town who hardly ever really talked with each other," says Baker.

"The group wanted to come up with something for them to do as a family and that's when the idea for the competition was born.

"Hopefully, working with each other to build a snowman will help bring some families closer together."

The contest is reaching its goal.

Baker says a number of families have entered every year, and there's now a bit of talk around the community as the competition approaches.

She says families look forward to the annual contest and really like the fact it has them working together.

"That makes us so happy to hear because it was the main thing we had in mind when we started the contest.

"It's become more competitive every year and people now talk about what kind of snowman they're going to build and how they should arrange it, so there's a creative aspect to the contest, as well.

"And, everyone who gets involved is having a lot of fun and that's important too."

Baker says it's neat to watch a family finish a snowman and then start laughing as they wonder how they came up with the idea.

She says the snowmen have become more impressive every year, which makes things a little tougher for the four judges.

"A point-scale system is used for creativity, height, width and originality of design.

"It was so close this year, we had to hold another vote to decide our winners.

"It was tough, but it's also a lot of fun when people put that much effort into building their snowman."